Field of Invention
This invention relates to a sole structure and its associated production technology and equipment, and particularly to a flocked sole and its related production equipment and technology.
Description of Related Art
The bottom of a shoe gets in touch with ground surface directly. So it requires better gripping and friction. In order to increase the friction, China patent no. CN101849726A disclosed a sole and its making method to covering the sole bottom with fibre particles via adhesive with the following steps: Step 1: cover the bottom of the sole that needn't be glued with fibre particles; Step 2: the section of the sole to be flocked should be covered too; Step 3: send the sole where its surface has been treated by TPR solvent and get it dried at a temperature between 60-65 Celsius for 4-20 minutes; Step 4: apply adhesive to the section of the sole where requires flocking; Step 5: send the soles coated with adhesive into oven and leave it half dry at a temperature 60-65 Celsius for 4-20 minutes; Step 6: choose qualified flock (fibre particle); Step 7: spray the quality fibre particles evenly on adhesive coated surface; Step 8: get rid of the excessive flocks on the sole; Step 9: send the soles after step 8 treatment into an oven, where contains fogging agent inside, at a temperature of 60-65 Celsius for 4-20 minutes; Step 10: remove the soles from step 9 for cleaning and packaging.
The above method requires a very long production line, occupying a lot space, low automation, which means low productivity, more manpower and materials consumed and higher cost. Especially Step 7, fiber particles are stored inside a spray gun. The particles are shot out by pressure gun and applied on the special adhesive. For the soles with grooves, where most part of the surface is flat, it is difficult to guarantee the particles are evenly spread and retained. The production yield is quite low too and not economic.
So there is a demand for a new flocked sole and its associated production equipment and technology, which will overcome the disadvantages of the present technique.